198 marijuana plants located across Wayne County

Law enforcement agencies participated in a marijuana eradication operation Wednesday and managed to locate almost $300,000 worth of plants.

Donald Hall, director of the Medway Drug Enforcement Agency, said the operation yielded 198 mature plants from across Wayne County.

The operation is conducted yearly with the help of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), which uses a helicopter and trained aerial spotter to locate the plants in forested areas and farms.

Once spotted from the air, law enforcement officers gain permission and access to the land in order to confiscate the plants.

This year’s haul was down from 2013’s record year, Hall noted. But, still, law enforcement collected an estimated street value of $297,000 worth of marijuana product from the county.

Hall did not release specific areas where plants were located as property owners and farmers typically are not aware the plants are on their land.

Last year, Medway conducted a similar operation with BCI and located a record 728 plants for an estimated street value of $1.4 million.

Officers from the following departments assisted BCI and Medway in the operation: Brunswick, Creston, Doylestown, Marshallville, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Orrville, Rittman, Shreve, Smithville, West Salem, Wooster and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.